Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan

The Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) outlines roles and responsibilities to aid in the coordination of response. The plan review process builds resilience in our community by bringing together key organizations/partners who provide critical services in all phases of emergency management to capture an accurate representation of capabilities in the county. It is a way to identify gaps, build partnerships, and gain clarity on the integration of private, non-profit, and volunteer groups with government to serve our community well.

Why participate in the review and update?

Emergency response and coordination is strongly dependent on a common understanding of roles and responsibilities, as well as pre-established relationships. This revision process provides an opportunity to engage to gain both a better understanding of what to expect from each other and to build better relationships with those who you may work closely with during an incident.

As a government entity or private organization, this process is a time to revisit expectations and legal responsibilities. If you are a city or town representative participating, this is a time to improve your understanding of how the county anticipates response to improve your own plans, as well as gain awareness of resources to fill gaps in your own jurisdiction.

The Base Plan delineates emergency operations as applied to incidents in Pierce County and addresses a number of functions that the County provides that contribute to managing an incident. It provides an overview of the County’s emergency management structure and the role of County/Emergency Management. It lists the hazards present and discusses the needs and capabilities in handling those hazards. The Base Plan highlights the role of the EOC, duty officer program, and activation levels.

Emergency Support Functions provide an overview of the coordinated response needed within discreet areas (functions) to achieve desired results. They list primary and supporting organizations, define policies and procedures for guiding operations, and provide general overview of response operations. To further understand the pieces of an ESF and the content in each section, please see the Reviewer's Guide.

Support Annexes focus on functional processes or administrative requirements that may support many ESF’s to ensure effective and efficient incident management. The intent is to create a framework through which individual organizations, governmental or other, execute common strategies. Some examples of support annexes for Pierce County include the Debris Management Plan, Volunteer and Donations Management Plan, and the Recovery Framework.

Incident Annexes cover individual types of incidents that may need a specific response in order to handle the situation. Examples include Biological, Cyber, Nuclear/Radiological, Terrorism, and Volcanic.